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  #31  
Old 05-30-2007, 12:05 PM
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Adam Adam is offline
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I'm bringing back old threads again...

The whole H.A.A (Half-Ass-Amish) terminology at the beginning of this thread described me so well I thought I would bring this one back. I made a decision to go that way in late 1999. I didn't have any problems like you guys did in high school because I spent all my time hanging out with my grandfather, who liked all this old stuff that we do. But when I went to college I really experienced a sense of distaste at the general culture there. After 3 years I just couldn't take it anymore. So I put all my modern electronic devices out on the curb, moved in with my girlfriend, changed my major to ancient languages, started collecting old TVs, and never looked back.

As far as reactions to old TVs, I'm always surprised when people see 20 old sets in my front room and don't say anything at all.
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  #32  
Old 05-30-2007, 12:28 PM
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My experience has been as follows. If a visitor to my home sees a 30 year old set as my daily watcher, They'd probably figure I was poor, and couldnt afford a new set. That is until they see my audio collection, and my modern sets. But its amazing how little kids (even teens) are downright RUDE about anything vintage-- Ah, but they do not get it anyway.
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  #33  
Old 05-30-2007, 12:59 PM
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REAL TVs have TUBES!
 
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This is one of the most fun things about the TV hobby!

I love it when we have to get the DirecTV people here, and usually the guy is about 18 and has never seen a TV older than the late 80s. They walk around, pretending not to notice whatver vintage TV I happen to have in place at the time, and they act funny. Then they go behind the set looking for the 75-ohm terminal, and they can't figure out what to do with 2 screw terminals. Ofcourse they don't have, and don't know what a matching transformer is ...

Another scenario I love to put on is that my fiance Kay owns, and we live in, this $3,000,000 house overlooking the Reagan Library. (not bragging, as I don't own a penny of it)... It has all the stuff that they show on MTV Cribs, so anyone coming in expects a 72" flat screen hidden behind a mirror or something. If the visitor is an over-50 person, I do a little skit when they get shown the house: We take them all through, showing the kitchen with SubZero fridge, the center island Viking stove with motorized rise-up vent panel, and all the stuff. Then I say "the house is nice & cozy allright, but we have something REALLY special... Come this way (to the livingroom)... We have a COLOR TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" In the corner sits the Zenith roundie with a 1960s vintage electric clock on it. The over-50 visitor suddenly thinks he/she is back in the early 60s, when that color TV would have drawn a crowd.

Charles
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  #34  
Old 05-30-2007, 02:07 PM
decovision decovision is offline
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Several years ago I had the cable guy out for problems on my cable service. This was when I had my prewar sets in the same room as my 1982 RCA Color Trek 2000 that I used as my primary set. He was really rude, stating that I was stealing cable even though none of the sets were hooked up to cable. He proceeded to give the sets a dirty look, and gave me a dirty look when I told him that my color set had given me years of good service. It was clear that he thought the vintage sets were junk and I was mad for having them. I almost changed to the dish, but since the dog attacked my TRK-12 I have moved the sets into a dog proof room (damage was repaired) and no longer am concerned about being labeled a cable thief by some rude cable guy. I am happy feeding my sets signal from a VCR/DVD player.

Eric
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  #35  
Old 05-31-2007, 09:44 PM
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I've generally gotten good reactions to my TV and radio collections. We have them scattered throughout the house, from the living room to the basement, even to the bathroom (I have a 1968 Zenith B/W portable on my bathroom counter).

Most people who come to visit are amazed that a TV "that old" works and works well. My father-in-law watches various sports events on the '65 Admiral in the living room when he comes over, and always comments on the vividness of the colors. I always get questions like "can you still get tubes" and "where did you learn how to fix those"

I've gotten a few comments along the lines of "why would you want to watch that old thing" but nobody's ever really given me any major grief over it.

Jim
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  #36  
Old 06-01-2007, 01:08 AM
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Another CT-100 lives!
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by decovision
Several years ago I had the cable guy out... He was really rude, stating that I was stealing cable even though none of the sets were hooked up to cable.
If I actually had a cable-TV employee come into my home (which I have not since 1990 anyway, and I dropped cable in 1995), and they made a comment like that, I would forcibly remove them from my property instantly. I would then have the person wait at the edge of my property until I handed them any cable boxes that were in the house.

A friend of mine has had satellite TV since the 1980's (C-band first and digital later), and he actually made the cable company remove their unused line from his house! They didn't like that at all...
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  #37  
Old 06-01-2007, 06:23 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sandy G
....Told her she could have the '73 Fleetwood if she'd keep it fed & clean...Got a REAL dirty look over that one...apparently, '73 Fleetwood Caddys aren't "kewl" amongst the jellybean set...-Sandy G.
Man, have times changed! That sure was cool around 1976, when I got to drive dates around in my Dad's Fleetwood Brougham. Pop an 8-track in with music to get them in the right mood...nothing like electrically-controlled wide passenger-side front seats that go W-A-Y back to almost horizontal, when you are at the drive-in.

I guess "cool" just isn't the same as "kewl", these days.

Feeling older every year here...
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  #38  
Old 06-01-2007, 07:19 AM
Destructor Destructor is offline
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Unfortunately I don't have a tube TV set yet but I do have a vast collection of vintage tube audio equipment, all restored and in excellent condition w tubes exposed. Most people do notice and are then blown away by the sound quality. My girlfriend (born in 1976) was never exposed to this stuff and thinks its real cool, she now has a vintage 70's stereo set up. I do need a tube TV to fullfill my retro bachelor pad. I also drive around in a 1970 442.
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  #39  
Old 06-01-2007, 08:53 AM
julianburke julianburke is offline
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Tee hee hee! All of you youngsters (I'll be 56 next month) many times act as if you have just "discovered" old color TV's!! I was repairing them while in high school in the late 60's and I mean fixing them for real and when I was 17 got a job at a stereo & TV store as a TV tech. I have collected color TV's for over 40 years now and have about 30 of the roundies. (three mint CT-100's) I have countless other sets as well. (about 100 total) I also have all of my tubes and then some from a 40 year collection. (about 10,000!) I still have lots of NOS Zenith and RCA parts to keep my sets going. Now they're back in vogue and glad I saved them! Just wait until someone discovers I have NOS color CRT's!!

One story I like to relate is when I was at a Atlanta hamfest some years ago, a gentleman pulled in a trailer full of junk-and I mean JUNK. (nothing stuff from a wet basement) One thing he did have was a Korean era field telephone set (bad condition-I ended up buying it for $1) and two young boys about 15 looking were at it and one said "oh, that's a military radio. Those are valuable"! I happened to say no, that's an old Army field phone. One boy asked "what's that?" I said that you would have two or more connected with a pair of wires.

They looked at each other in amazement and one said "WIRES? ARE YOU SURE??" Our young generation just don't even have a clue of what wire is used for anymore.

When I give talks, I like to relate this story. Last year at the television museum in Columbus I related this story again and the audience roared. Some guy later on was giving a talk on his Russian RCA mirror in the lid set and when trying to get it to work mentioned he needed to hook up a antenna wire to the set. Someone in the audience yelled out, "WIRES? Are you sure?" That was funny! Julian
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  #40  
Old 06-01-2007, 10:25 AM
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My cable-guy experience was different. In my living room I have a 1956 Motorola console, a 60s Olympic TV/phono combo, and a flat-screen HD set. When the guy came to hook up my cable he walked straight over to the Motorola and opened up his toolbox--"Oh, you don't want this one hooked up--ha ha ha..." He thought it was cool.

Last year, for the Motorola's 50th anniversary, I had a bunch of friends over for a party. We made appropriate 1956 food (when was the last time you had a Baked Alaska?) and I put together a DVD of a bunch of 50s/60s clips. The funniest part was people's reaction when a clip w/the NBC peacock came on. "Awwwwwww! When are we going to get a color tv?"
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  #41  
Old 06-01-2007, 10:27 AM
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I guess I have been fortunate thus far. I have had all positive reactions to my radio and TV collection. Poeple love to see the old sets and always ask "Does it work?". No one oustide the readers of this forum have seen my Zenith roundie yet but I bet it will draw a comment or two.

There was one time when I was at work negotiating with a coworker on the price of a Hallicrafters S53-A Shortwave "boatanchor" tube radio. The set was in fair condition but very restorable. Someone walked buy and said that piece of junk should be put in the garbage where it belongs. I tried to educate him on the value and functionality of vintage radios but it was a wasted effort. I bought the set for forty dollars, and eventually restored it. It has worked well for years and has become one of my best and favorite radios. Some people think that just because something is old, it must be of little value, functional or otherwise.
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  #42  
Old 06-01-2007, 11:50 AM
Destructor Destructor is offline
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A lot of old gear today properly restored will still outlast some of the new unservicable garbage being sold at the chain stores. All my vintage 35 to 40 year old gear still works well. My PD65 CD player (a very good player) crapped out after 10 years. it can not be repaired. A processor is no longer available and nothing can be sustituted or modified to make it work.
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  #43  
Old 06-01-2007, 04:45 PM
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Me, Myself and Irene

Before the advent of the internet, I though that my love for the old color sets was simply a weird tick in my personality. But the truth is that we are the keepers of the products and knowledge that layed the ground work for everthing that has come since in electronics.

Although most people don't understand my passion for the technology, they are amazed at the quality picture one of these jewels can deliver.
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  #44  
Old 06-01-2007, 08:39 PM
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Strangely, the under-25 kids I've shown my collection to are mostly engrossed by the old record players in the couple of combo-units I have. It's always their highlight, the TVs come second and the radios don't get much notice -- unless there's a tuning eye. Most "under 30"s have never seen one, and they usually stop to ask what it is, and why, and I usually get a "kewl".

At some point in the last 25 years, TV's started powering off cleanly. When I show kids my '64 Zenith B/W, I usually get a comment about how dumb a B/W set that huge is. But when I shut it off the picture collapses to a horizontal line, then the line slowly collapses to the ol' white dot, then the dot hangs around for 30 seconds. That always gets a stunned silence. More than one kid has asked, "is it supposed to do that?". I'm sure most 25-year-olds have never seen it before.

The older people I show my collection to admire the nostalgia, and are always amazed the stuff "still works". I've never had a negative comment from someone my age or older.
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  #45  
Old 06-01-2007, 11:26 PM
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I have gotten mixed reactions to my collection. Everything from "way cool" to "why do you have all this junk?" The two sets that get the most favorable comments in my collection are my RCA 2000 and my Zenith Sidekick. People like the Sidekick because of it's case being wrapped in denim, and the 2000 for its remote control, good sound, and digital tuning. I have a couple friends who are in their early 20's and they absolutely love my collection. One of them the other day told me he likes hangin out at my house because I "have all the cool stuff," and the other one really likes the RCA 2000 a lot, so much so that whenever we're lounging around watching TV or a movie or whatever, we always have to use that TV.

I have a beloved vintage Marantz receiver that I power up whenever I want to show someone what home audio is supposed to sound like, and that tends to get a lot of wows. Another hilite of my collection seems to be my Laserdiscs and CED's and of course all the record albums.
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